When it comes to the best make up school, you need not look any further than your own home. Depending on how old the student is, mom can be the professor. Some of my most cherished memories of my mother are the times that she would show me how to put on make up. She's the one who taught me that foundation goes on before eyeshadow and to save the mascara for last. She also was a fairly objective judge, and never let me leave the house with a clown face. My mother also taught me that if you're going to wear bright lipstick, you should tone down the eyes. Conversely, if you're going to wear a lot of eyeshadow, a dramatic lip isn't something you want to go with.

I definitely learned a lot from my mom when it comes to putting on make up, but where did she learn it? Her mother died when she was too young to wear any, and I was always kind of curious as to which make up school she went to. I asked her one day, and she told me that she learned everything she knew from fashion magazines. They would show her which brushes to use for face powder, eyeliner and which work best for applying eyeshadow. In turn, she passed along that information to me.

I decided to look into her "alma mater", and in the process found out that magazines are indeed a decent alternative to make up school. The people who write the articles are experts in the field. Depending on which one you choose to read, you can even get the dos and don'ts of applying various forms of make up. You get all of this for the price of a subscription or two, which usually runs around $12 per year per magazine. It's a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.